New Delhi: The Delhi Police has registered an FIR on Monday against unknown persons under section 3 of the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 2007 after a poster which read “Jihadi Terrorist Islamic Centre” was seen pasted on the signboard of the India Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC) on Lodhi Road, Delhi on Sunday.
The poster was signed by the Hindu Sena, and was apparently meant as a response to the attack that took place in Nice, France on Thursday.
Vishnu Gupta, president of the Hindu Sena, has said that whether or not it is illegal, it is for the court to decide. But he has asserted that his workers have not done anything wrong as the posters have come off easily and have not left any marks.
“I don’t know the legal aspect of this. Our workers had put up those posters out of anger against the Islamic terrorist attack in France. But our workers have not done anything wrong, because they put up posters which were removed easily by the police. They have also not left any marks,” he has added.
This comes after a man killed three people at a church in Nice, France, with a knife while shouting “Allahu Akbar” on Thursday. Just two weeks before, a school teacher in Paris had been beheaded for showing his students cartoons of Prophet Muhammad during a lesson on free speech. Following the two attacks, President of France, Emmanuel Macron, had said that Islam was in crisis, and that France’s secular values had to be safeguarded from “Islamist radicalism”.
As photographs of the defaced board went viral on social media on Sunday, they led to an uproar.
Responding to a tweet by an activist Saket Gokhale, the Delhi police has said, “Necessary legal action under appropriate section of law has been taken after verifying the facts.”
Deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi), Eish Singhal, has said an FIR has been registered at the Tughlaq Road police station against unknown persons under Section 3 of the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 2007 on the same day.
The Indo Islamic Cultural Centre is bang in the heart of Lutyens Delhi.
That an outfit called “Hindu Sena” would have the audacity to perpetuate a hate crime & get away with it shows the tacit complicity of @DelhiPolice in emboldening such crimes.
— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) November 2, 2020
However, sections 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) or 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) have not been invoked in the said FIR.
“A team of policemen had spotted the signboard while patrolling in the neighbourhood. The board was defaced and the name of a right-wing organisation was mentioned under the objectionable poster. We will investigate this further,” he has said.
He has also added that no CCTV cameras have been installed in the areas around the signboard. However, nearby CCTV footage is being reviewed to catch the culprits.
S.M. Khan, vice-president of the IICC, has said that the incident is unfortunate while condemning the act. Talking about the IICC, he has said, “Here, we believe in interfaith dialogue, deliberation and promoting national integrity. To say we support any act of terror is ridiculous and completely unfounded.”
Registered in April 1981, the main purpose of the IICC is to promote mutual understanding and amity amongst the people of the country, and to depict the true face of Islam, which is most tolerant, liberal, progressive, rational and forward, according to its website. Indira Gandhi had laid its foundation stone on 24 August 1984.